Saturday, April 25, 2015

POTD: Four on a Bike

From 2015 03 11 Jakarta
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Jakarta, Indonesia. The motorbike is the workhorse vehicle of southeast Asia. It carries a driver, passengers, cargo, even animals. During our recent trip, it became a pastime to see who could spot the motorbike carrying the most number of people. Three on a bike was too easy. Four on a bike unusual but not rare. Five on a bike -- well, we saw it once but were unable to get a photo.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Review: All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See
Amazon
From All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr:
Open quote 

At dusk they pour from the sky. They blow across the ramparts, turn cartwheels over rooftops, flutter into the ravines between houses. Entire streets swirl with them, flashing white against the cobbles. Urgent message to the inhabitants of this town, they say. Depart immediately to open country."

After the jump, my review.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

The Imitation Game (2014)

IMDB
The Imitation Game (2014): Nazi code. Math. Homophobia. Bio-pic of brilliant but difficult man wronged by society. Same story, new angle. B-













Wednesday, April 22, 2015

What Have We Learned?

What have we learned recently about the burgeoning scandal in Richardson city government?

Monday night, we learned (h/t David Chenoweth) that WFAA's investigative reporter (*cough* yellow journalist) Brett Shipp was at the Richardson City Council meeting and allegedly asked ("confronted," intercepted, ambushed, choose your own verb) council members going in and out about alleged emails from Mayor Laura Maczka to JP Realty's Mark Jordan from before December, 2013, that suggest something more than a strictly business relationship between the two while the Palisades rezoning case was still a pending matter before the city government.

After the jump, what have we not learned?

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

POTD: Worst Traffic in the World

From 2015 03 11 Jakarta

Today's photo-of-the-day comes from Jakarta, Indonesia. Cities take perverse pride in being known for having the worst traffic jams. After only a few minutes observing the traffic in Jakarta (the photo above was taken the first morning of our visit), I was impressed. I Googled "worst traffic in the world" and came up with a Time.com study that ranked Jakarta as the worst city in the world for traffic jams. Time gets no argument from me.